Pound Drops on BOE Minutes

By

WSJ London

Oct 20, 2010 4:51 am ET

Sterling fell sharply after minutes from the latest Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee showed a three-way split, with Adam Posen voting for more quantitative easing while Andrew Sentance still wants a rate increase.

The minutes could have overshadowed data showing that the U.K. public sector borrowed $25.44 billion in September, with central-government spending rising sharply. The September PSNB came in at a high for the month since records began in 1993.

The pound dropped from around $1.5740 to $1.5690 immediately after the minutes and was recently trading at $1.5705. The euro rallied to a session high of 0.8807.

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